Overview

Secrets and spies, love and tragedy in Stasi East Germany. Brandenburg 1993: The Berlin Wall is down, the country is reunified and thirty-year-old school teacher Michael Ritter feels his life is falling apart. His wife has thrown him out, his new West German headmaster has fired him for being a socialist, former Party member and he is still clinging on to the wreckage of the state that shaped him. Feeling angry and lost, Michael heads home to care for his terminally ill mother. Before she dies, she urges him to seek out an evangelical priest, Pastor Bruck, who is the only one who knows the truth about his father. When Michael eventually tracks him down, he is taken on a journey of dark discoveries, one which will shatter his foundations, but ultimately bring him hope to rebuild them.

Full Product Details

Author:   Kevin Brophy
Publisher:   Headline Publishing Group
Imprint:   Headline Review
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 23.30cm
Weight:   0.490kg
ISBN:  

9780755380855

ISBN 10:   0755380851
Pages:   368
Publication Date:   05 January 2012
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable  
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.

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Reviews

'Its humanity, attention to period detail and sheer guts will win you over' -- Guardian 'There are distinct echoes... of the shadowy, sinister world evoked in John Le Carre's The Spy Who Came In From the Cold' -- Irish Independent 'This fascinating tale, which throws new light on recent history, is an excellent first novel' -- Literary Review 'Bittersweet and beautifully observed' -- Financial Times 'If you enjoy a good story with depth and intrigue, I don't think this book will disappoint. I loved it. Thoroughly recommended' -- www.thebookbag.co.uk

Steph writes: Recently, there has been a renewed fascination with the mysterious and dangerous world of post WWII East Germany and in particular with the brutal security elite, the Stasi. Partly inspired by the acclaimed 'Stasiland' by Anna Funder and by his own encounters during a short visit to East Germany years earlier, Kevin Brophy's debut novel 'The Berlin Crossing' explores East Germany both before and immediately after the falling of the Wall. Beginning in 1993 in Brandenburg, we get a taste of newly reunified Germany: BMWs, Nike shoes and the proclamation of democracy. Yet for teacher Michael Ritter, former proud member of the Socialist Party, this new found liberation spells disaster for his personal life. In a few short months, Ritter loses his job when the new West German Director learns of the teacher's political allegiance, his wife leaves and his mother passes away. On her death bed she implores her son to seek out a certain Pastor Bruck to learn the truth about the father he never met. From here we are taken back to 1960s East Germany, a world of limitation, regulation and oppressive surveillance. The Wall is manned at all hours, and although visitors are permitted to the GDR their business is followed by Stasi eyes everywhere. Michael's father, Irish-German Roland Feldmann finds himself crossing the Wall on behalf of British Intelligence undertaking what should have been a simple collection job. However, a few gunshots later, Feldmann is on the run from the most efficient and dangerous state security system in the world: the Stasi. Brophy's novel is a gripping read because on a large scale it investigates a world quite foreign to the modern capitalist society whilst telling the simple tale a man trying to get his life back together. Prior to reading this I had no knowledge of the Stasi or much of the world behind the Wall but after reading The Berlin Crossing I have to say it is a context I am most certainly inspired to further research.

Author Information

Kevin Brophy grew up in a military barracks on Ireland's west coast and now lives in Galway. He has written various non-fiction titles previously and his chequered career includes stints as a postman and teacher, barman and businessman. He has lived in Ireland, England and Poland but feels most at home in Germany.

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